By Doron Markowitz

Golden Lion number three

Hello again and welcome to another installment of Luthier's Corner. This month, I want to discuss my most recent build, which is very special to me for various reasons, one of which being that I dedicated this build to my lovely wife. You see, last month, my wife had to go into the hospital for back surgery. So, while she was there, I figured I would build a special version of my Golden Lion model that would encompass much of what she and I enjoy, such as inlays of dog faces and paws, since we’re both dog lovers. Check out the description. hollowbody special edition So here we have my latest build, a neck through hollowbody special edition, Golden Lion #4. She plays and sounds fantastic. I'm really proud of this guitar. the back is 1/4" purpleheart between red oak. control plate is 1/8" red oak. The body frame is 1.5" poplar. the top is 1/4" red oak between purpleheart, neck through section is 5 pieces of wood- 2 pieces of poplar, 2 pieces of 1/4" red oak, and 7/8" bubinga center. fretboard is bubinga, fretboard binding is 1/8" red oak. inlays consist of various puppy faces, paw prints and bones. zero fret and first 3 frets are stainless steel medium jumbos, remaining 21 frets are nickel/silver tall skinnies.

The Build

24 fret neck, 25.5" scale length, 12" fretboard radius, bone string guide nut behind zero fret. tuners are vintage Gibson Deluxe Klusons. pickups consist of 50's DeArmond "mustache" single coil in the neck, 60's Kent WC-16 chrome single coil in the middle, and home-made epoxy encased bridge humbucker. bridge is a 60's Teisco roller bridge. tailpiece is a repro Teisco vibrato. pots are a 500k volume and 100k tone out of a 50's Kay Speed Demon, and a new old stock Sprague .022 cap from the same era. knobs are from the same Kay. 5 way pickup selector with Tele barrel tip. neck pickup add mini toggle and 3 way coil select bridge pickup mini toggle. Switchcraft jack. finish is a subtle burst stain under 6 coats of high gloss poly. set up with 11's with nice, low fast action and no buzz. nut width is 1 3/4", neck thickness is 22mm, nice big round "C" shape. she plays and sounds absolutely amazing. I am beyond pleased with the final product! Thanks for looking. Enjoy. To really get a good idea of what it took to go from raw timber to playable instrument, check out the following pictures. And check out the picture of me holding this most recent Golden Lion build, along with 2 previous builds. Also, keep in mind that I can build one just like this for you, if you are interested.

Picture A shows the neck core woods being glued together. Picture B shows the cutout hollowbody wings and neck through core laid out for a visual prior to gluing the 3 sections together. Picture C shows the hollowbody frame glued to the 3 piece back. Picture D shows me spokeshaving the back of the neck. Picture E shows the neck carve completed with the radius gauge showing the perfect “C” shape of the back. Picture F shows the neck through core being glued and clamped into the hollow body. Picture G shows the first coat of amber stain sprayed to the guitar, after all the woodworking was completed. Notice that all of the purpleheart areas have been masked off. Once that’s dry, the tape comes off, and I then use cherry Danish Oil Stain to give a subtle vintage burst finish. Picture H shows the completed guitar.

To really get a more in depth look at this guitar, click on the following link to see fully detailed picture album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.677433728963024.1073741851.100000892103878&type=1&l=b78ba63576

And click this link to see the demo video of the completed guitar:
http://youtu.be/7phEkrYbIBs

Well, I hope you found this month’s article informative and enlightening. Once again, thanks for reading my column and remember no task worth accomplishing is ever achieved if not pursued with fierce dedication. Believe in yourself, and make happen that glorious noise called music! Until next time, remember, there is nothing you can't do if you set your mind to it! Cheers!!